Nevada is Tesla’s official choice for the $5 billion battery gigafactory

Tesla has chosen Nevada as its site for the 5$ billion battery factory that will be the next step to secure its future generation electric cars, with Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval making the announcement on Thursday.

The electric carmaker is still discussing the final details of the plant that will produce cheaper and more efficient battery packs for Tesla’s next generation of electric cars, which includes the $35,000 Model 3, due in 2017. Japan’s Panasonic Corp will manufacture lithium ion cells for battery packs and is a partial funder of the plant’s costs, considered to be a very important part of Tesla’s ambitious plan to become a major automaker.

While California, Texas, Arizona and New Mexico were also competing for the plant’s location, Nevada was the final selection, and will now give Tesla more than $1 billion in tax breaks and abatements for the following 20 years.

Tesla CEO, Elon Musk, said that Nevada’s offer “was not the biggest incentive package but [Nevada] can do things quickly and get things done.”

The plant’s planned site is an industrial park in Storey County, around 15 miles east of Reno, Nevada, with only 4,000 people living there. Tesla is expecting to build more than 60,000 cars in 2015 after spending large amounts of money to update and expand its existing Fremont, California assembly plant. The facility currently manufactures the $70,000-plus Model S Sedan, adding a companion crossover, the Model X, next spring.